SeedLinks - May 2011

Seed for the Church Planters Harnessing TechnologyDiving Into the Deep

seedlinksGod’s Word for every language —in this generation!

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Exponential results. That’s the only way to describe what

God is doing in Bible translation today. God is on the move

and we’re running to stay up with Him. Bible translation

is accelerating right before our eyes. We’ve never seen anything like it. During a recent trip to South Asia, I was amazed to see the magnitude of what God is doing!

The trip with Seed Company team members and our newest board member, Joyce Williams, and her husband Ron, was an eye-opening experience for us all. We visited what I believe was the largest consul-tant-training workshop of nationals ever held: 34 consultants in training. We were also privileged to speak at a seminary to future master’s-degree graduates. After a moving message by the acting provost, he challenged the young people by emphasizing the Apostle Paul’s commitment to go to unreached people groups. More than 20 young people wept as they accepted this commitment, and so did we!

Perhaps the most historic moment of the trip was hearing that there are now 250 languages in one nation that have some portion of Scripture. National translation teams are hard at work to bring God’s Word to their people. “It isn’t going to take much longer for us to start translation in the remaining 110 languages,” the leaders told us. “Maybe four to six years.” Their vision to have Scripture in all language groups in their nation by about 2016 is fast becoming a reality!

Everywhere I look, I see God at work. In Africa, South Asia and around the globe — multiplication in Bible translation is happening. God is factoring in His grace with our efforts. Like the Israelites in Joshua 3:4, God is leading us on a path we have not traveled before.

We are so deeply honored to be on this journey with the Lord. Thank you for your partnership as we race toward the fulfillment of Vision 2025 — God’s Word for every language in this generation!

“Having Joyce on this trip was such a gift!” Roy Peterson said. “She is a business professional and also an everyday mom who was willing to go to the field and walk the turf to see what is happening.” Read about Joyce Williams’ experience at www.theseedcompany.org/seedlinks.

Learn more about how God is work-ing in South Asia: Watch a video with Roy at www.theseedcompany.org/seedlinks.

Cover: Advancing technology helps Timor youth connect to God’s Word in their language!

R o y L . P e t e r s o n | P r e s i d e n t

Follow Roy on @RoyLPeterson

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“More than 30 people came to know Jesus. The pastors planted a small

church where there had been none.”

D aniel, a local believer, com- pleted a Seed Company workshop where he had practiced sharing stories from God’s Word. Then he and three local pastors, all friends, spent three days fasting and praying before visiting a remote village in their region of South Asia that had only one known believer.

When they arrived in the village, the pastors shared God’s Word in the widely used national language, but received little response. They then asked Daniel, who is from an area near the village, to speak in the local language. Daniel decided to

share the 33 Bible stories he knew. The presentation drew people in like a magnet. He told of Creation and other Old Testament stories and then moved on to New Testa-ment stories about Jesus healing the sick and raising Lazarus from the dead. The crowd was so en-thralled, Daniel spoke for three more days.

Toward the end, Daniel shared Gospel stories of spiritual warfare, which sparked a response with dramatic and lasting results. As he told of Jesus casting out evil spirits,* several women in the crowd began “screaming and shaking.” The narra-tive rapidly transitioned to a time of ministry.

“As the pastors prayed [with the women], the demons came out,” Daniel stated.

Before the sessions ended, more than 30 people came to know Jesus and several people were set free from oppression! The pastors were able to plant a small church where there had been none. Now Daniel meets regularly with about 40 villagers, teaching Bible stories they too can share.

Daniel was greatly encouraged to see the impact of the 33 Bible stories, but is now eager to share more of God’s Word as translations of new verses in his heart language become available. Your partnership makes that possible! x *Luke 8:3

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Seed Church PlantersF O R T H E

Pray more Scripture will be available for Daniel and other storytellers.

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Dela never went to school, but he taught himself to read. Living on the humid Sepik River in Papua New Guinea, his lifestyle requires only a basic wardrobe: just a few pair of short pants. He and his neighbors live off their small gardens and what they catch from the river. Their simple life-style doesn’t include a telephone, the Internet, or even electricity.

For years, an eight-person team for two Sepik languages had been plodding along in Bible translation, trying to complete the New Testa-ment. When they hit a snag, they would stop and wait — sometimes for months — until a consultant could make a trip to this remote locale to help.

But last fall, a Seed Company information technology (IT) team brought a creative solution to help alleviate delays in translation. They found the best computer for the circumstances, created spe-cially configured software, added a satellite modem and constructed a communications workstation that used solar panels for power. In less than two weeks of installa-tion and training, Dela and others who had never before touched a computer were able to send e-mail with attachments, bringing distant consultants into almost instant contact with the translation team.

By the grace of God, The Seed Company is more capable than ever, and uniquely positioned

to respond to worldwide needs for technology and training. Last year, IT staff provided more than 50 solar-powered laptops and 15 netbooks, and more such systems will be made available in remote areas this year. The Seed Company anticipates a 30 to 40 percent increase in efficiency for translators who use this equipment, which will further accelerate translation efforts and Scripture impact.

The IT team continues to work to harness Internet connectivity in a variety of ways, including a project that will focus on Web-based collaborative translation. In another exciting project, a Seed Company partner is using digital

Technology CatapultsTranslation

H a r n e s s i n g

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in this generation.” Its fulfillment requires creativity and innovation; but even more important, it depends on courage, perseverance, trust in God’s leadership and part- nership with national translators, like-minded organizations and people who support Bible transla-tion. Together we are seeing this vision become a reality. x

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technology tomake audio and print files of Scripture available to cell phone users across the globe. This could make mother-tongue Scripture available in geopolitically sensitive locations.

The Seed Company is now seeing unprecedented acceleration of Bible translation. Our vision state-ment declares, “God’s Word trans-forming lives in every language

“Within two weeks they were typing and sending

e-mails. It was incredible watching them learn!”

— Matt Kroll, IT Specialist

Get involved! Partner with Alamblak and Ap Ma translators. See www.theseedcom-pany.org/project/sepik-ot-panorama-cluster.

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Start the 28-day interactive devotional

challenge anytime! These 15-minute daily

adventures are perfect for church Bible study,

young adult groups and many others. Help

end Bible poverty!

The OneVerse program gives everyone an oppor-tunity to help accomplish the Great Commission. Individuals or groups can sponsor Bible verses for $26 per verse for people groups still waiting for God’s Word.

Small Can Equal Big in God’s Economy| E a s t C o a s t | | W e s t C o a s t |

Two small-town American churches, one on the East Coast and one on the West, have met OneVerse’s Blank Bible Challenge in recent weeks.

Wallingford, Pennsylvania. About 40 young adults gather on Sunday evenings in the aptly-named “Crossroads” group at Grace Bible Fellowship Church. Their pastor, Mark Bickel, is very focused on the needs of these young participants. “This is a unique time in their lives,” Bickel said. “The Bible is of utmost importance in helping them choose God’s path.”When Bickel saw the Blank Bible Challenge on One-Verse’s website, he became enthused. “This is what will get my students excited!” he said. As Crossroads members were drawn into Scripture, they wanted others who have never known God’s Word to receive it as well. The students chose to sponsor verses for the half-million Arew people in Tanzania. “The group raised a generous $2,570 toward sponsoring 99 verses,” Bickel said.

Hermiston, Oregon. The 70-member congregation at Victory Baptist Church has sponsored 10 verses a month for the Boma people in Southeast Asia since 2008. During the Blank Bible Challenge, Pastor Trevor Waybright inspired his flock when he said, “Just think: Our little church in Oregon will contribute 10 percent of the financial support for the Boma translation project, impacting hundreds of thousands of people!”The Blank Bible Challenge is igniting a passion for God’s Word in the lives of individuals and church congregations. They in turn are sharing that passion with the world! x

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Learn more at www.blankbible.org

Be inspired! Read how church youth groups in Knoxville joined together and raised $4,556 to sponsor 175 Bible verses for the Rewe translation project at www.theseedcompany.org/seedlinks.

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Jason Elam had only had two jobs in his life — working for a fast-food chicken restaurant at age 16, and playing college and professional football for 21 years. The recently retired placekicker achieved much during his football career, including winning two Super Bowl rings, and tying Tom Dempsey for the longest field goal in NFL history at 63 yards. Yet, Jason considers serving the Lord to be his greatest honor.

While the Elams are involved in ministry on several fronts, they are especially excited about partnering with national translators in two Seed Company projects in Africa. Jason and his pastor decided to visit one of the projects. From the moment the lead translator picked them up from the airport, Jason said, “It became an experience indelibly imprinted on my mind.”

The indigenous translators were delighted by their visit and prepared a feast. Jason and his pastor sat on small mats with the translators and shared stories about their lives over a meal of roasted camel. “I had not seconds, but thirds!” Jason said. As he kept reaching across the table to put more food on his plate, the national translators were smiling and poking each other, “He likes our food. This guy’s one of us!”

“I was hoping to go over there and be a blessing to them, and it ended up being the exact oppo-site,” Jason said. “I was the one that was blessed through the whole thing, just to see how important it was to them to get the Bible in their heart language.”

As Jason and his pastor were preparing to leave, the translators presented Jason with a precious gift — their heart-language translation of Luke 19. “At that point I realized I wanted to be involved with Bible translation for the rest of my life!” x

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R e a c h i n g H i g h e r Goals

BIO: In 1997 and 1998, Jason won back-to-back world championships with the Broncos and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1995, 1998, and 2001. He is currently working on a master’s degree in global apologetics at Liberty Theological Seminary. Jason and his wife Tamy have five children.

Photo of Jason kicking: Getty Images Sport

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“Hearing

God’s Word in the

heart language is

like the difference

between walking into fresh, sparkling water and diving deep to find richness and incredible beauty below the surface,” Pedro said. “It’s in the depths [of God’s Word] that life transforma-tion occurs.”Perhaps this truth was planted in young Pedro’s heart as he and his friends explored the clear, cool waters of Lake Atitlán in his home-town of Santiago Atitlán. The pic-turesque capital of the Tz’utujil Mayan nation in Guatemala is framed by three towering volca-noes, and it’s where Pedro grew up and began his search for purpose in life. He found that purpose in the early 1980s when he gave his life to Jesus.Pedro looked forward to church. But during the services, which were delivered in Spanish, he noticed

that once the sermon started, many members fell asleep. The church ushers carried long wooden sticks, and when a member dozed off, whack! The usher would hit him with a stick. This disturbed Pedro, because it didn’t reflect God’s love.

The solution was clear to Pedro: He would translate the Bible into Tz’utujil.

Getting StartedWith a notebook and pencil, Pedro started translating on his own. He was laughed at, but understood the reason for the ridicule. To many,

the indigenous culture was of questionable value to the future. But Pedro continued translating. The Lord led Pedro to a Wycliffe translator who was working in a nearby village who mentored him and affirmed his work. Within a year, the Gospel of John was finished. Because of life changes in Pedro, those who had previously rejected the translation were now interested. “Pedro, teach us to read and write in our language. Teach us the Bible in Tz’utujil,” people said.

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“Jesus wants to

talk to His Bride,

the Church, in her

heart language.”

— Pedro

Impact of The Word“This was huge!” Pedro recalled.

As Pedro taught, he noticed every-body was paying attention! Hunger for God’s Word grew within the community, and church leaders began to notice. He was invited to speak in church. Later he was asked to be pastor. A movement of trans-formation had begun. When an influential senior pastor raised a question about the effec-tiveness of translating Scripture into Tz’utujil, Pedro answered him with a question.

“Brother, how did you propose to your wife? Did you propose to her in Mayan [Tz’utujil], or did you propose to her in Spanish?”The pastor paused. “I proposed to my wife in the Mayan language,” he said, with tears forming in his eyes.“Jesus wants to talk to His Bride, the Church, in her heart language,” Pedro said.Many more pastors are now teach-ing in Tz’utujil, and seeing results. One noted how many homes that were broken because the fathers abused alcohol have now been

restored. As men are confronted by God’s Word in their native language, he said, they feel the love of God and realize the responsibil-ity they have as head of the family. “It’s the word you understand that transforms you,” the pastor sum-marized. The Seed Company is now coming alongside Pedro in an Old Testa-ment cluster translation project for 10 Mayan languages that already have the New Testament. More than 40 churches have grown up around the mother-tongue Scrip-tures as a result of Pedro’s efforts to bring God’s Word to his people. x

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Watch an interview with Pedro at www.theseedcompany.org/seedlinks.

“But if we love each other,

God lives in us, and

his love is brought to full

expression in us.”

— 1 John 4:12 (NLT)

“God’s Word is so powerful!” cried Vincent, translator for the Coastal OT Cluster project, as he watched church elders talking excitedly among themselves. They had just read the team’s draft of Ruth.

“Naomi treated her daughter-in-law very well,” they observed, “and Ruth loved and blessed her. We are not showing the same love toward our daughters-in-law. Should we change?” they asked.

Christians in the Pokomo people group near coastal Kenya await the Old Testament transla-tion so they can better share the Gospel with their friends — many of whom follow another major religion. Words alone aren’t enough. They recognize they must also live the Gospel within their homes. x

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T H E B O O K O F R U T H I N A F R I C A

An Example for the In-Laws

“Make them holy

by your truth; teach

them your word,

which is truth.”

— John 17:17 (NLT)

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The Anyang Celebrate!

“Although I speak Grasslands to my family and friends, I prayed in Span-ish, thinking Grasslands wasn’t appropriate to use in prayer. I learned that Grasslands is of equal value before God. I can pray in my own language and now God is much closer to me.”

— Eduardo, Grasslands translator, Mexico

B i b l e Tr a n s l a t i o n i s D i s c i p l e s h i p

Captured on video: The arrival of the newly completed Denya New Testaments. Watch the vibrant dedication celebra-tion. You’re sure to get a taste of Heaven!

More than 20,000 Anyang people live in remote villages in the dense forests of Cameroon in West Africa. When Gabriel Besong received a vision in 1986 to trans-late the Bible into Denya — the language of the Anyang people — he began working toward seeing that vision fulfilled. The Seed Company came alongside

the translation effort in 1998, and in December 2010 the translation project was completed. x

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Experience the joy of the Denya New Testament dedication. Watch the video at www.theseedcompany.org/seedlinks.

G O D’ S W O R D C H A N G I N G L I V E S —

A R O U N D O U R W O R L D

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Blog.theseedcompany.org is a great resource filled with stories about how God is changing lives. Check it out. Add thoughts. Share with others. Thanks!

a terrible accident — and the foundation of all my beliefs was shaken. Who was I to believe I had complete control of my life? It was then that I accepted Christ, just days before I was going to join the Communist party.”

Today Christina is impacting several Bible translation projects

“From an early age I felt my life’s course had been determined by my family who had close ties to the Communist party of our country,” Christina said.* “When I entered college, a classmate shared the Gospel with me. I shot back:

‘You are working on your Ph.D. at Oxford, and yet you believe this super- stition?’ Soon after, my mother suffered

E A S T A S I A

What a Difference a Day Makes!

in East Asia, where she serves as a consultant, trainer and manager. Especially close to her heart is a New Testament project in her own language — with an expected completion date in 2014! x

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T H E B O O K O F R U T H I N A S I A

Romance and Redemption

In a sensitive project in Asia, translators poured over the story of Ruth, hearing it for the first time. Their agrarian backgrounds enabled them to respond immedi-ately to the narrative.

“Oh my,” one exclaimed, “Boaz is starting to get interested in Ruth! He gave her so much grain!

That was more than just being kind to her.” It was the beginning of a romance, a story of loyalty and redemption.

The translators, who had worked on the New Testament previously, were fascinated by the history they discovered in Ruth’s story and by her remarkable

lineage. Ruth and Boaz had a son, Obed, and “Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David” (Ruth 4:22).

Motherhood is a blessed calling in many Asian cultures, making Ruth a heralded model of devo-tion and trust. Through the span of the generations of her family, God would send forth His Son, Jesus, fulfilling the biblical story of redemption. x

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“GOD speaks Nyungw e”

M O Z A M B I Q U E , A F R I C A

Speakers: 420,000

Project goal: New Testament

Project start: 2010

Est. completion: 2016

A B O U T U S

V i s i o n : God’s Word transforming lives in every language in this generation.

M i s s i o n : To accelerate Scripture translation and impact for people without God’s Word through Great Commission partnerships.

C o r e Va l u e s : • Honoring God in all we do • Valuing individuals and relationships • Committed to effective partnerships • Encouraging creativity and innovation • Managing for quality results

Our Commitment to You: We commit to always maintain the highest ethical and financial standards. The Seed Company is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), and complies fully with their rules for Christian ministries.

God’s clear message is desperately needed among the Nyungwe, where many people mix Christian faith with spirit worship, sacrifices and a belief that evil spirits control their lives. Prayer partners are an essential support to faithful Nyungwe believers translating the Scriptures to free their people.

Call 877-593-7333 or visit www.theseedcompany.org/pray

to support this team in prayer.

3030 Matlock Road, Suite 104Arlington, Texas 76015-2934Toll-free: 877-593-7333Fax: 817-557-2393

www.theseedcompany.org

A Wycliffe Bible Translators affiliate

Read Bill’s account of sitting in on a translation workshop in progress in Southeast Asia at www.theseedcompany.org/seedlinks.

Yes & Amen!All of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “amen,” which means “yes,” ascends to God for His glory (2 Corinthians 1:20).

God created us to live out his abundant plan for our lives. In so doing, we are to pray for all people, ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them (1 Timothy 2:1, NLT). Let us pray in affirmation of His Word as we watch His work in awe!

• Pray that the Sepik people may soon have a full Bible in their heart language.

• Pray for increased growth of Bible storying, including more available Scripture and more teachers.

• Pray for a deepened appreciation of God’s Word and greater awareness of Bible translation needs through the Blank Bible Challenge.

• Ask God to continue the rapid development of translation projects across the globe and pray for enough exceptional national advisors to keep up with the growth.

Let us pray,

B i l l M c C o y | Director of Prayer